


You're here and not there

by who_seeks_shall_find



Series: Life as I see it [6]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Crying, F/M, Family, Imprisonment, Love, Reunions, Unresolved Tension, complicated feelings, post-season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-10
Updated: 2018-06-10
Packaged: 2019-05-20 13:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14895201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/who_seeks_shall_find/pseuds/who_seeks_shall_find
Summary: Oliver is a free man. The reunion as a family is everything they have wanted but it's also a bit complicated.





	You're here and not there

**Author's Note:**

> This is a part of the series about Oliver's imprisonment and a year after it. This drabble takes place on the day when Oliver is released from the prison and it's the sixth part of the series.
> 
> I'm going to write a series which will be updated once a day (if it's just possible). It's going to include 122 drabbles about Oliver, Felicity, William and other characters who are involved in their lives. Therefore, it's going to take approximately four months to finish the series. The drabbles are linked to each other but they're NOT in a CHRONOLOGICAL order.
> 
> I wish that every character is respected without unnecessary hatred.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Felicity was sitting on the couch and William was sitting next to her. They were waiting for Oliver and John. William was tapping his forefinger to his knee and he looked anxious. Neither of them seemed to be excited because they didn’t know what to expect. Six months was a long time after all and there still were many unresolved feelings. 

Felicity looked at her phone and then she frowned. They should have already arrived. She was too nervous to sit so she stood up. She started pacing and she wondered if something had happened. John would call her if something went wrong, right? Oliver was officially a free man and he had paid the price for it. He had helped FBI and in exchange he could get his freedom. That was the deal and they couldn’t just break it.

William interrupted her train of thoughts. He looked up and asked: “Do you think that something is wrong?” 

Felicity shook her head because she didn’t trust her voice. Yet, shaking her head didn’t seem sufficient so she opened her mouth: “I think they are just running a little late. Don’t you worry about that. They are coming.” 

William nodded but he didn’t look satisfied or convinced. Felicity was pacing even faster and she felt how her head was going to explode. Her only thought was that they should have been there already. She saw how she was stressing William out and she didn’t want to do that. She decided to get a glass of water from the kitchen so William couldn’t see her distress. 

“Do you want a glass of water?” she asked but William shook his head. 

She walked to the kitchen and grabbed a glass from the cabinet. Then she headed towards the sink. She concentrated on her every movement really carefully because it took her mind off worrying. Yet, when she was pouring water to the glass, she felt a sudden urge to throw up. 

The anxiety was just too much. Her palms were sweating and the nausea was a real deal. Her heart was racing and she just heard how the blood was rushing through her veins. She really needed to calm herself down before Oliver was there. 

She didn’t want him to see her like this although it had nothing to do with showing her emotions. She wasn’t afraid of showing weakness to her husband. She knew that he was proud of her no matter what. This was about herself because she didn’t want to feel weak. She wanted to be strong for herself and for William because they had managed without Oliver. They had been strong enough to survive on their own and she didn’t want that to be diminished in her own eyes. 

Of course, she hadn’t always been the best version of herself but she had taken care of William who seemed okay. She wanted to acknowledge that on her own. Oliver was always irreplaceable but she wanted to feel proud of herself for being strong with and without him. 

Yet, she didn’t want to be without him anymore. She didn’t want to be strong without him. She had proven to herself that she could manage without him but he simply made her life better. He made William’s and her lives complete. It was a mortal lock. 

She missed him but she hadn’t let herself to fantasize what it would be like when Oliver was back at home. She hadn’t wanted to have false hope because it could have led to a disaster. However, now he was coming back and she allowed herself to fantasize about him a little. 

She wanted to touch and kiss him although she was angry with him. More accurately she was furious at his unilateral decision. Still she wanted to enjoy him being back. She could be angry with him later. She could yell at him later. First, she just wanted to feel him. They could have a serious conversation later.

William walked to her quietly and Felicity startled when she noticed him. She yelped and William smiled at her apologetically.

“Sorry”, he said and then continued: “I just wanted to check on you. It’s kind of our thing now, right? You will always have my back and I check on you.”

“Yeah. That’s right and it’s never going to change. No matter what. We’ll always have each other’s backs”, she said reassuringly. 

“I know I haven’t said this but thank you for everything. Thank you for taking care of me. Thank you for letting me be if that was what I needed. Thank you for not pressuring me to tell about my nightmares. Thank you for being there for me”, he said with a conviction. 

Felicity was speechless for a while because she hadn’t expected that. Silence was so uncharacteristic for her but she couldn’t find proper words. 

Then she swallowed and whispered: “I love you. You were the reason why I survived. You are my light, my sweet boy.”

Felicity felt her tears pooling behind her eyes. She would do anything for him. There was nothing that could change the fact that he was her son and “my sweet boy” was her way to show her affection. Luckily, he had immediately accepted the phrase. 

First time she had said it to him unconsciously. She hadn’t been able to stop herself and she had regretted it as soon as it had left her lips. She had been worried about William thinking that she was overstepping. To her surprise, he had just sighed with a contentment and snuggled closer to her. After that it had become a habit. 

She would never try to replace William’s biological mother but he was also Felicity’s son. He was her sweet boy and Felicity felt the urge to crash him against her with a hug. She wrapped her arms around him tightly. He was already taller than Felicity but he was still so young and vulnerable. The embrace was for them both. They needed the hug to make sure that they would always be a team and William hugged her even tighter when she started sobbing. 

They held each other silently in the kitchen until they heard the front door opening. They slowly let each other go and suddenly William was looking anxious again. Felicity gave him a reassuring smile while she wiped her tears away from her cheeks.

She nodded and William took the first steps towards the front door but Felicity couldn’t move her legs. She wanted to see Oliver. She did. However, it was impossible to move. She had to take a ragged breath and force herself to move her legs. This was the moment. She started walking slowly.

She came to the front door and saw her husband and William hugging. Her heart felt heavy. John was standing behind them and there was a duffel bag on the ground but Felicity couldn’t take her eyes from her husband. Oliver looked rough. There was scaring and bruising on his face. He had lost weight and his face looked a bit hollow showing his cheekbones and black circles under his eyes. In addition, his stubble was gone. There was a long beard and it made Oliver look older. 

William let Oliver go although it seemed like Oliver had wanted to hold his son a while longer. Then Oliver saw Felicity. She hadn’t realized that she was silently crying again and for a moment Oliver looked helpless. He just looked at her like she was going to disappear. Nobody moved. Felicity found it impossible to move again. 

John whispered loudly so everyone heard: “Maybe you should go to say hi to your wife, man.” 

Then John slightly pushed him forward and Felicity grinned at their best friend. After that Oliver took the steps and closed the distance. He stopped right in front of her hovering but he didn’t touch her. 

Felicity saw how William was rolling his eyes behind Oliver’s back and Felicity wanted to chuckle. William’s reaction broke the spell and it seemed like she had to make the first move. She wrapped her arms around his middle body and pulled him closer. After that Oliver didn’t need more encouragement. He held her tightly and pressed small kisses on the top of her head. 

Felicity held onto his collar tightly not willing to let him go. Her tears stained his shirt but he didn’t seem to mind. She let out a content hum because he was actually there. Then he took her face into his hands and kissed her lips gently. It wasn’t a passionate or a long kiss but it meant more. It was like he was saying many things with that kiss. He was apologizing, thanking, saying he missed her and letting her know that he was proud of her. 

Finally, she took a step back because she knew that William was their priority. He had missed his dad and she wanted to give Oliver and William some space. Oliver looked at her with a confused expression and Felicity nodded towards William. Then she went to John and kissed his cheek.

“Thank you for bringing him home today. I know that Oliver preferred us not to go to the prison,” she whispered into John’s ear.

John replied: “Always my pleasure and sorry about being late. We had small problems with some officers. They are lucky to be alive. I was sure that Oliver could murder them for making us be late.”

Felicity wasn’t sure if she wanted to know more about that. They were there now and it was all that mattered to her. 

Oliver and William were exchanging pleasantries concerning how things were. Mostly, Oliver asked William and William answered politely. The conversation was a little off but Felicity thought it was natural after everything. Forgiving and rebuilding the trust weren’t going to be easy.

Felicity looked at her men for a minute. Then she turned her attention back to John and asked as quietly as possible: “How is he really?”

John had folded his arms across his chest and shrugged: “I can't say. He’s not that kind of guy who talks about his feelings.”

Felicity knew that too well and it didn’t surprise her. She sighed. They were going to have a long conversation ahead. She was angry and William was angry although now they just wanted to be with him without any complicated feelings. It was certain that Oliver wasn’t going to be done apologizing any time soon, though. However, now he was back and it was all that actually mattered.

**Author's Note:**

> Update for tomorrow:  
> Everyone loves to speculate whether Felicity is pregnant. In Felicity's opinion tabloids and press should just leave the topic alone.


End file.
